• Ami B Bhatt, Alefiyah Rajabali, Wei He, and Oscar J Benavidez.
• Division of Pediatric/Congenital Cardiology and Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program, Massachusetts General Hospital Heart Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass, USA.
• Congenit Heart Dis. 2015 Jan 1;10(1):13-20.

ObjectiveAdult hospitals are a common location of adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) admissions, including cardiac surgical admissions. Understanding the patterns and predictors of resource use could aid these institutions by identifying and targeting potentially modifiable determinants of high resource use (HRU). Our objectives were to examine resource use during adult congenital heart surgical admissions in adult hospitals, determine the association of HRU with mortality, and identify risk factors for HRU.DesignPopulation-based retrospective study We obtained data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample 2005-2009 and examined ACHD surgical admissions ages 18-49 years (n = 16 231).Outcome MeasuresWe defined HRU as admissions with >90th percentile for total hospital charges.ResultsDespite representing 10% of admissions, HRU admissions accounted for 32% of total charges. HRU admissions had a higher mortality rate (9.7% vs. 1.8%, P < .001). Multivariable analysis demonstrated that HRU is associated with government insurance adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 2.0 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.6,2.4), emergency admissions AOR 3.9 (95% CI 3.1,4.8), complications AOR 4.2 (95% CI 3.3,5.2), renal failure AOR 1.8 (95% CI 1.4,2.2), congestive heart failure AOR 1.2 (95% CI 1,1.4), surgical complexity risk category-2 AOR 2.0 (95% CI 1.0,3.6), and category-3+ AOR 2.3 (95% CI 1.4,3.8).ConclusionsHRU admissions for adult congenital heart surgery consumed a disproportionate amount of resources and were associated with higher mortality. HRU risk factors included nonelective admissions, government insurance, heart failure, surgical complexity, renal failure, and complications. Complications, if preventable, may be a target for improvement strategies to decrease resource use. Other risk factors may require a broader patient care approach.© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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